Prius AUX jack fried my MP3 player battery, DEAD!!!

[freshmtt]

I am so pissed off, not really with Toyota, I am kind of , but more so with Creative Labs.

I realized today that the AUX jack for the MP3 player somehow killed my internal battery in my Creative Zen MP3 player. The player is almost brand new, less than 2yrs old and hardly ever used..

I had been keeping it plugged into the MP3 jack for the past 3 weeks and only played it 2 times, the last time for 20 minutes and the battery was still fully charged when I finished using it.

I tried to power it on a few days ago and it would not power on, it was dead,, so I thought I just left it on and the battery just needed to be re-charged. So I charged it up last night, plugged it in at 5pm and at 6am this morning unplugged it and it would not come on at all, it fully charges in 4 hours. It was plugged in for 13 hours, and it showed it was still charging but no progress had been made on it.

I plugged it back in the charger and powered it on and it came on and works, but then I unplugged it from the charger and within 20 seconds it gave me the warning for low battery and then shut down...

So, the battery is fried, and I know that the Prius did it, how, I'm not sure, but what really gets me mad is that Creative tells me they will not replace the battery or even fix it because it is out of warranty, I know this, I just want them to tell me how to get it fixed by someone else, and they won't tell me. Basically just telling me, they do not do repairs on products no longer under warranty, but won't tell me how to get it fixed.

I can't imagine that they make a $250 product that just needs to be thrown in the garbage after the battery dies and the warranty runs out. This is insane!!!!, I am now waiting to speak to a supervisor. All I want to know is how to replace the internal battery and fix it. I don't want to buy a new one as it took me over 6 months to put 4,000 songs on it. My time is more important than money at this point.

I looked on the web and only found one place in NC that fixes and replaces IPOD batteries, I put a call into them to see if they can replace a Creative Zen battery but still waiting to hear back from them.

I wonder if Toyota is going to cover damage or if this will be out of pocket. How can we proove that the Prius did this??, I know it did,, that MP3 player was practically brand new and I always made sure I kept it fully charged. I hardly every played this thing...

[bbald123]

No, the Aux jack did not fry your player battery.

It would be possible for a power surge through the Aux jack to fry your player amplifier circuits etcetera. It would also be possible for someone to leave the player on for long periods and totally flatten the battery.

Much more likely is that temperature extremes in the car triggered thermal protections either in the battery or in the player.

[Wa1hog]

The AUX jack is an audio input. It would be like leaving your headphones plugged into the MP3 player overnight. No way it would kill the battery. As to the possibility of a power surge I doubt it. Again its a audio line going to the radio. There is no power on that line. If there was a power surge it would kill the audio output amplifier of the MP3 player and not the battery. I suspect that it was left on and killed the battery. It does happen.

[freshmtt]

Originally Posted by bbald123

No, the Aux jack did not fry your player battery.

It would be possible for a power surge through the Aux jack to fry your player amplifier circuits etcetera. It would also be possible for someone to leave the player on for long periods and totally flatten the battery.

Much more likely is that temperature extremes in the car triggered thermal protections either in the battery or in the player.

Brian,
Does this mean that everybody needs to remove their MP3 players from the car everytime they leave the car??, I'm just trying to figure out how temp extremes could have done this, it is Spring here and there have been no major temp extremes to where the car was extremely hot inside and have gotten cold etc..

But if what your saying is that just by leaving the MP3 player in the car for a period of 3 weeks could have fried the battery. Then I want to know if all of you that have the MP3 jack also leave your player in the car, or if you remove your player from the car each time you leave the car parked. I had kept the player stored inside the console where the jack is.

I know that something connected with the Prius damaged that battery. And it is definately NOT from the player being old. It is practically new and was hardly used. I always kept it charged up on the stereo deck in the house and only recently put it in the Prius after I bought the car.

It sat in the center console for 3 weeks was used only 2 times and the battery was fully charged at the end of both times I played it, about 20 minutes each time. We have not had any extreme heat or cold here in Chicago since I bought the car, so what exactly would you consider extreme temp ranges for the inside of the car necessary to damage a MP3 or IPOD battery??

I have another Phillips MP3 player, 8gb that I just got in December, now I am almost afraid to keep this one plugged into the jack in fear of what will happen. Should I remove the player whenever I exit the car and never let it sit inside the car when I am not in it?? This seems a bit extreme, but if I have to do this I will.

Does everyone else remove their MP3 player/IPOD everytime they get out of their car and park it???

[Tammy7287]

I have my satellite radio always plugged in and haven't had any problems.

[freshmtt]

Originally Posted by Wa1hog

I suspect that it was left on and killed the battery. It does happen.

So your telling me that simply leaving the MP3 player on and letting the battery drain down will destroy the battery? This does not make any sense?. What kind of technology is that, that a battery that is completely dead will just be destroyed and cannot be charged up simply because the player was left on and the battery drained down??

I'm sorry if I am sounding stupid, but I have never heard of that before, our cell phone batteries die all the time because someone forgets to charge it up. The battery does not get destroyed because it was left uncharged, you just plug it in and charge it back up again.

Isn't this the purpose of chargeable batteries,, when the battery gets drained out you plug it in and recharge it. If this was not the case, would there not be a warning on all devices like this warning you to not let the battery fully drain or you will destroy the battery??

[prius729]

Are Zen's batteries soldered on like ipods? You may be able to find one on ebay or something and fix it yourself.

[freshmtt]

Originally Posted by prius729

Are Zen's batteries soldered on like ipods? You may be able to find one on ebay or something and fix it yourself.

They have replacable batteries on their website, but those are for the new models that have come out. My 20gb Zen Sleek Photo is an older model, even though I just bought it less than 2yrs ago, I bought it right as they stopped production. So when I called them they told me that those batteries are not compatible and my MP3 has an Internal battery.

I did find a website called zenrepair.com that will fix it for you, I am going to send it to them to fix and get it done.

I am just baffled by what happened and why... I can't see that just letting the battery get drained down will actually kill and destroy the battery. This does not make sense at all. After charging it for 13 hours last night, it did not get charged up at all,,, and only stays powered on if it is plugged into the charger. The second I removed it, it played for 20 seconds and warned me the battery was low and shut itself down..

So the battery got fried somehow..

[San_Carlos_Jeff]

Originally Posted by freshmtt

The player is almost brand new, less than 2yrs old and hardly ever used..

There's a big difference between "almost brand new" and "less than 2yrs old". It's quite possible that there is some sort of internal problem with the battery that has been there all along and finally killed it over time.

[Yak18]

Pretty sure your MP3 battery was lithium ion. When a lithium ion battery goes below 3.0 volts it is in extreme danger of damaging itself. Your player should have a feature that shuts down the device prior to the cell going below 3.0 volts (most cell phones and other devices have this failsafe) but it is possible that that feature did not work this time. Since it's out of warranty, I don't think there is anything you can do besides a personal boycott on creative labs products. Very unlikely your Prius had anything to do with it failing.

Another thing you said concerns me..."hardly ever used". Batteries need to be used (cycled) to stay fresh. It's possible that the battery went below 3.0 volts just sitting there on standby for a few months.